BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    



                                                                  AB 1993
                                                                  Page  1

          Date of Hearing:   May 19, 2010

                        ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON APPROPRIATIONS
                                Felipe Fuentes, Chair

                  AB 1993 (Strickland) - As Amended:  May 11, 2010 

          Policy Committee:                              JudiciaryVote:  9  
          - 0 
                        Business and Professions              11 - 0 

          Urgency:     No                   State Mandated Local Program:  
          No     Reimbursable:              

           SUMMARY  

          This bill requires every report submitted to the Legislature by  
          any state agency or department to include a statement signed by  
          the head of the agency or department that the contents of the  
          report are true, accurate, and complete, to the best of their  
          knowledge. 

           FISCAL EFFECT  

          Costs associated with this legislation should be minor and  
          absorbable within existing resources. 

           COMMENTS  

           1)Rationale  . This bill requires that all reports submitted to  
            the Legislature be accompanied by a signed statement attesting  
            to its factual basis.  The author intends this bill to ensure  
            that all written reports submitted to the Legislature contain  
            accurate information. 

            The author has modeled this bill on sections of the  
            Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, which requires Chief Executive  
            Officers to certify financial reports to company shareholders  
            under penalty of perjury.  According to the author, "Congress  
            passed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act in response to financial  
            scandals of the early 2000's (e.g. Enron, WorldCom, etc.)."  
            While this bill is modeled on Sarbanes-Oxley, it differs in  
            the fact that it does not contain penalty of perjury language.

            According to the author, several years ago, during  








                                                                  AB 1993
                                                                  Page  2

            California's Joint Legislative Audit Committee hearings that  
            reviewed the Bay Bridge project, it was found that CalTrans  
            and other agency heads withheld information or misrepresented  
            vital facts in their reports to the Legislature.  Under  
            California law, the officials had no liability for their  
            actions.  Other types of public reports, including the Annual  
            Road Report and the Annual Street Report, are already filed  
            under certification and penalty of perjury.  There should be  
            consistency in the certification requirement for all state  
            agencies.

           2)Previous legislation  . This bill contains provisions similar to  
            those in AB 1625 (Klehs) of 2005, AB 2404 (Klehs) of 2006, and  
            AB 1135 (Strickland) of 2007, all of which were vetoed by  
            Governor Schwarzenegger.

           Analysis Prepared by  :    Julie Salley-Gray / APPR. / (916)  
          319-2081